AN: Once again, I am but a simple fanfiction writer. There is a small bit here taken from Chamber of Secrets, but like I've always said: anything you recognize probably belongs to JK, and the other stuff is mine. Apologies if the formatting is off, I posted it on mobile and will fix it when I get a chance.
Less than three, Loves
Three weeks into summer break found Bellamy sitting on the lounge in the receiving room, waiting for her father to return with Lily. James rushed passed the room and Bellamy heard his trainers skid on the hardwood before he popped his head into the room.
"Are we waiting for someone? Is someone coming over? Did you invite Sirius over for my birthday?" Bellamy smirked at her brother.
"Yes, we are waiting for someone. Also yes, someone is coming over and no, I did not invite Sirius over for your birthday. We share a birthday, Jamie. In March. Eight months from now." James invited himself to join her on the lounge.
"So, who are we waiting for? Is it one of mum's friends? Are you having a tea party?" She scoffed.
"I'm not six, Jamie. And no, it is not one of mum's friends."
"Is it Marlene? Haven't seen her in ages."
"We saw her last week at her house."
"Right…" He stood up, walking back into the hall. "Well, I'm off to maraud myself some of Poppy's gingersnaps." Bellamy grinned.
"Alright Jamie, you do that."
James had only been gone a few minutes before the fireplace roared green and out tumbled Lily, Bellamy's father right behind her.
Helping the redhead to her feet, Bellamy waved her wand over her. Lily's eyes went wide as the soot and ash disappeared from her yellow pinafore dress.
"Ah yes, I do apologize Ms. Evans. Floo travel isn't the cleanest." Mr. Potter said, smiling down at her.
"Thank you Mr. Potter. And please call me Lily." She flashed him a brilliant smile and he chuckled.
"Of course, Lily." He turned to address his daughter. "I believe your mother is in the library, if you wanted to have your discussion?"
"Thanks Daddy!" Bellamy called over her shoulder, already pulling Lily out of the room and towards the stairs.
"That was non-verbal, Bellamy." Bellamy ignored her.
"The library is on the second floor, west wing."
"You have a library? In your house?" Lily asked, her head on a swivel as she took in Potter Manor. Bellamy shrugged.
"Yeah, but you should see the one at Marlene's house, it's bigger than ours."
"Your house is massive, Bellamy. Just how rich are your parents?" Once again, Bellamy shrugged.
"They don't usually talk about money with us. At least, not me. I think dad has talked to Jamie about it a little because he's the boy."
"Okay, but how many bedrooms are in this place?" The pair rounded the corner, making their way down the corridor.
"Mine, Jamie's, our parents, and then four guest rooms? So seven. I'll show you to the room you'll be staying in later."
"Oh, but I left my bag downstairs…"
"Don't worry. One of the elves probably already brought it to your room." Bellamy pushed open the mahogany door to the library.
"I see our guest made it through the floo network in one piece. I told Charlus to bring you by side-along, but does that man listen?" Bellamy giggled at her mother, hopping into her favorite armchair before realizing Lily was still at the door.
"This… this is all yours?" Lily marveled, spinning in place as she took in the floor to ceiling shelves covering the perimeter of the room. "I've always wanted a library with a ladder!" Lily gently ran her fingers over the wood.
"Yes dear, this is the small collection that the Potters have amassed, along with my own additions, of course." Dorea Potter said as she made her way to the young girl, smiling down at her. Lily couldn't believe her eyes, but Bellamy was growing impatient.
"Lils, I promise you can have a proper look later, but I wanted you to meet my mum, remember?" Pulled from her trance, Lily looked briefly horrified before smiling sheepishly.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Potter. Please forgive me, you simply have a gorgeous home. I'm Lily. Lily Evans." Mrs. Potter smiled at the girl, taking her outstretched hand gently.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet the famous Ms. Evans. And please, Mrs. Potter was my mother-in-law. It is Dorea, dear."
"Yes ma'am." Dorea raised her eyebrow and Lily smiled. "Dorea, I mean."
"Lovely. Now," Dorea led Lily over to the comfortable looking red couch and two matching armchairs. Perching herself on the couch, Dorea clasped her hands on her lap, looking pointedly at her daughter. "You did not invite the lovely Ms. Evans to meet me simply to meet me." Bellamy's eyes narrowed at her mother as Lily sat gingerly on the empty chair.
"Must everything have an ulterior motive, mum?" Dorea smiled.
"I taught you well, my love. Of course there are ulterior motives." Bellamy pouted and Lily watched the exchange curiously.
"I wanted to tell Lily." Dorea raised an eyebrow again and Bellamy's nerves got the better of her. "I know you told me never to tell anyone and I haven't. Even Jamie doesn't know a lot of what happens, but I really need somebody at Hogwarts that I can talk to about it and I know I can always send you a letter and you've always been really helpful and understanding about everything but I really need someone my own age who can help me." Bellamy took a deep breath, holding her mother's gaze.
"And you figured that asking me to tell her, with her present, would make me more inclined to allow it to happen." Lily's eyes blew wide, panic and guilt flooding through her.
"Bellamy, you told me you asked her if it was okay." Lily hissed, smacking her friend on the shoulder. Bellamy glared back at her.
"I did ask. I asked if you could come stay for a week."
"That is not the whole story, Bellamy! I can't intrude on your parents like this, it's incredibly rude!"
"There's nothing rude about it, you're my best friend and I wanted to see you over the summer. Marlene comes over all the time."
"Bellamy Potter, I cannot believe you did this." She turned to Dorea. "Mrs… Sorry, Dorea. I am so sorry, I thought that Bellamy told you what had happened and you were okay with… everything."
"That is very kind of you Lily, I appreciate the apology. It is, however, unnecessary. It is not your fault that I raised my daughter to be a Slytherin. I really am surprised it took you two whole years to bring this up, Bellamy." Her mother said. Bellamy's jaw tightened and the grinding sensation sparked an odd flash of guilt, but she shook it off.
"You told me never to tell anyone…"
"Without talking to me about it first." Dorea finished her daughter's sentence. "Now, Lily mentioned an incident. One that I am sure is the reason for inviting her into our little club." Bellamy shot another glare towards Lily before nodding slowly.
"I had a dream… Nightmare? It was just before exams." Dorea made no move to comment. "Lily heard me tossing and turning, mumbling. I must have forgotten to put up the silencing charms in all the stress of the exams." It was Lily's turn to glare and Bellamy now.
"Silencing charms? For how long?" Cringing internally at her slip, Bellamy glanced at her mother before answering.
"Since first year."
"But you…"
"Later, Lily."
"Fine."
"The dream, darling." Dorea said, a small smile ghosting across her face.
"Right. I was at Hogwarts, I know I was because I recognized the corridor near the library. I felt really anxious and I was looking around corners with a compact mirror. I had a feeling… no, I knew that there was something really wrong. Somehow I knew that there was a giant snake in the pipes, the plumbing. A basilisk, to be specific. See, I had this piece of parchment and it looked like it was torn out of a book. I knew that something awful was going to happen and then I turned another corner and saw…" Bellamy took a deep breath. "I saw a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. That's when I woke up covered in sweat and Lily was there, pulling the curtain back." Bellamy paused, trying to gauge how her mother was reacting to her story. It was, however, impossible as her mother maintained her interested expression, patiently waiting for her daughter to continue.
"So naturally, I freaked out because I thought there was a giant snake in the toilets. I got dressed and was ready to go talk to Dumbledore when Lily decided she was going to tag along."
"You were talking crazy! I needed to make sure you weren't about to walk off the astronomy tower or something."
"But you didn't have to come."
"Bellamy, you will not tell me what I can and can't do." Dorea watched the girls with an amused smile.
"Whatever, it turned out to be a complete waste of time anyways because Dumbledore told me the whole thing was a hoax created by old students to scare the younger ones and then he…" Bellamy frowned at the floor and Dorea sat up straight.
"Bellamy, what did Albus do?"
"I think… maybe he might have tried to… figure out how I knew what I knew. Without asking?" Bellamy flinched as her mother went rigid.
"But he could not, am I correct?" Her mother's voice was colder than Bellamy had ever heard it.
"No, I don't think so. But mum, I think I made it worse by hiding from it."
"Yes, that will have seemed incredibly curious. A twelve year old girl able to perform occlumency so completely. Perhaps… yes, I will have to talk to your father about a cover story. Protect you from being the new object of Albus' curiosities." Dorea looked at her daughter, her sharp features softening once more as she held her daughter's cheek in her hand. "You must continue to document these dreams, darling. It is of extreme importance."
"Yes mum." Bellamy nodded, leaning into her mother's hand.
Lily felt awkward, as if intruding upon a private matter, but just as the thought had popped into her mind, the moment was over.
"Poppy." Dorea called, and Lily jumped when a small, wrinkled creature cracked into being next to the coffee table. "I believe we could do with some tea." The creature rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. The tea tray appeared on the coffee table, complete with cream, sugar and some gingersnap cookies.
"Mistress thinks Poppy doesn't already know this." The creature turned to Lily and grinned. "This is young master's Lily?" Bellamy giggled and Lily's cheeks burned.
"I am most definitely not. I'm not his anything." Poppy smirked.
"Of course, Miss Lily. Whatever Miss Lily is saying." And with a crack, Poppy disappeared.
Lily immediately turned to Bellamy.
"Has he been feeding lies to your…?"
"House elf, dear. And I think you will find that the nature of Poppy's knowledge is not as you or I would understand it. She enjoys her cryptic phrases and blunt conclusions. It is one of the reasons I value her so much."
"That and her gingersnaps are bloody brilliant." Bellamy added, popping the last bite of her cookie into her mouth.
"Bellamy." Dorea gave her daughter a stern look.
"It's just Lily." Bellamy moaned.
"Complacency breeds complacency."
"I know." Dorea smiled warmly at her daughter and took a gingersnap for herself with a wink.
Lily looked from mother to daughter in fascination. They were perfect mirrors of each other, politely chewing the gingersnaps from the tray. The only difference was that Bellamy's posture was slightly more relaxed than that of her mother.
Dorea noticed her gaze.
"Oh, please forgive me dear. Bellamy, how much have you told her?"
"Um… nothing. Just that I had a dream and I was worried. Of course, now she's heard the whole thing." Dorea looked proud at her daughter's admission.
"Would you care to do the honors then?" Dorea motioned to Lily.
Bellamy took a deep breath.
"Since I can remember, I've had these dreams. Crazy dreams that feel so real it's like I'm living them. Until I wake up, that is."
"I saw that, but everybody has dreams, Bellamy." Lily said, confused and Bellamy nodded.
"Yes, everybody has dreams. But the difference is that all of my dreams seem to follow one path, a central character in a story with all of the chapters out of order."
"But how do you know that?" Bellamy had been prepared for the questions, but it still stung to hear them. She knew Lily didn't mean anything by it, but this was one of the reasons she had held off for so long.
"I've kept a journal with notes more detailed than your charms notes. Names, places I recognize, what's happening, things like that. The number of reappearing characters, if you can call it that, is really hard to ignore."
"That's what your journal is? But you're always writing in it, not just when you wake up. Is it during the day too?" Bellamy shrugged.
"Sometimes I'll remember a detail, a name or something. And then there's always the fact that Professor Binns is about as entertaining as a flobberworm, so I have to be prepared. Mum is the one who gave me the journal; told me to keep track of everything."
"One can never have too much information." Dorea smiled.
"Are you sure you weren't a Ravenclaw, mum?" Dorea's smile turned into a smirk, brushing a stray lock of Bellamy's hair out of her eyes.
"It all depends on what you do with the information you gather, my love. Now, why don't you take Lily outside, take a tour of the gardens. Missy will retrieve you when dinner is ready."
Bellamy led Lily out of the library and down the stairs.
"So, still willing to be friends with the crazy loon?" Bellamy asked. Lily gasped and smacked her shoulder. "Oi! If you keep this up I'll be forced to start wearing armour and I don't think that would go over well with McGonagall."
"You think my friendship is so weak that a little thing like funky dreams is going to drive me away? What would Remus say to you right now."
"This is different and you know it. He didn't have a choice, he was attacked as a toddler."
"And you were… what, probably born this way, right? So you didn't have a choice either. I am far more upset that you thought I wouldn't be okay with this."
Bellamy smiled.
"Just making sure. So, the gardens? Mum keeps some venomous tentacula hidden away, want to go antagonize it?" Lily giggled and linked her arms through Bellamys.
"Lead the way Potter."
"Don't call me that, Potter is my brother." The pair fell into fits of laughter and made their way out into the yard.